With the support of world newspaper mogul Murdoch and others, California-based Cove (Cove) recently launched a fully biodegradable bottle of the same name that will debut in Erewhon stores across Los Angeles beginning Dec. 1. The bottled water will retail for $2.99 per bottle.
Cove Bottled Water's investors have still been supporting them. Since 2018, Cove has raised $20 million from such luminaries as Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff, world newspaper mogul James Murdoch, Valor Equity Partners and early backers of Tesla Inc. In addition, Totterman has received investments from renowned music producer DiPaolo, singer Kygo, Ellie Goulding, and a number of stars he wishes to remain anonymous.
The making of Cove bottled water starts in the kitchen. RWDC Industries, a Georgia-based chemical supplier, first collects cooking oil from restaurants and ferments it into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), which RWDC delivers to Cove's warehouse in north Los Angeles.
From there, the PHA pellets are transferred to Cove's approximately 2,322-square-meter plant, where they are pumped through machines to remove water, screen out the metal, then stretch, cut and mold the material into hollow cans suitable for water. The labels are then printed directly onto each bottle. The ink made from algae is also biodegradable. According to Cove's estimates, its bottles could decompose in water and soil within five years.
The PHA in the Cove bottle as well as in the cap is certified by TÜV Austria as biodegradable in marine, soil and freshwater environments as well as in industrial and home composting.
Under the partnership agreement, Cove will receive 350 million pounds of PHA from RWDC over five years, which will allow Cove to expand its renewable beverage bottle capacity to hundreds of millions of bottles in just a few years.
